Time to begin my Animal Collective drinking game...

It's that time of year where almost every music blog or magazine or whatever posts their Best of lists. Here is Spin magazine's top 40 albums of 09, courtesy of stereogum.com. Here are their top ten. What have you heard/have you liked/have you loved/have you hated?

10 The Dead Weather - Horehound
09 Drake - So Far Gone
08 Florence And The Machine - Lungs
07 Mos Def - The Ecstatic
06 Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
05 Girls - Album
04 Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
03 Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
02 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
01 Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

California English, Pt 2: Electric Bugaloo

You know that Animal Collective-esque Vampire Weekend track you've been dying to hear? Well, get a load of this: California English, Pt. 2 is the b-side to VW's newest single "Cousins." Althought the vinyl version of these two songs somes out December 15th (just in time for the last few days of Hannukah!), the full LP Contra comes out January 12, 2010.

Reunions, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Zombie Bands

Today, Something Corporate announced they will play their first show together since a brief three song set in 2006. A Youtube video has the four members holding up signs saying March 2010, Bamboozle Left, See you then!

This announcement is following a year filled with reunions: Blink 182, Pavement, Sunny Day Real Estate, The Starting Line, Phish, Blur, and, everyone's favorite Pearl Jam wannabe, Creed. All these bands who seemed to nothing more than a memory, nothing more than left for dead, are back.

Sometimes, these reunions become one-off shows (Sublime), other times they turn into full-blown tours and new albums. A break, or what every band now seems to refer to as a "hiatus," is becoming more of simply that, a break.

I remember when Blink-182 went on an "indefinite hiatus" back in 2005: I thought they were done. Stick a fork in them, and all that jazz. But all they needed was a rest and time to remember why they make music in the first place.

As much as I love Something Corporate, I doubt I will be able to make it to California in March to see them perform again. I hope they elaborate on this reunion and make it more than just a performance.

I'm curious to know your opinions on reunions and what you hope for when a beloved band seems to come back from the dead?